The present invention relates to a switching control system which makes possible a low-cost multipersonality system.
In general, a data processing system has a processor unit suited to the performance of the system and executes a program written in a native language.
With the recent popularity of personal computers, more standardization is being established in related hardware and basic software. Software houses which are unrelated to hardware manufacturers have begun to distribute application software which is designed not only for use with specific types of equipment but for all standard systems.
This software, which is on the market, is becoming popular. There is a strong demand among users for a single machine which can use application software supplied by the manufacturer and other commercially available software and for a single machine that can use one or all of different classes of commercially available software.
When an attempt is made to realize a multipersonal single processor unit, one of the following systems is generally adopted.
i) An application program is converted by basic software into a format usable by a system.
ii) A single processor unit simulates native languages of various processor units.
However, the former method can only be used if the application program is written in a generally higher level language and thus presents the problem of compatibility. The latter system cannot provide high performance.